I should have taken a camera - it was quite a picture. People from various sectors of the Bloomington, Indiana community came together for a peace walk/prayer gathering/singing. Most of us were dressed in white - which made everyone seem more connected. Plus everybody had a flower.
The majority appeared to be either Jewish or Muslim. Some identified their affilitation with a yamaka or a t-shirt. I recognized some Quakers, a UU minister, people from the Bloomington Peace Community, others. There were people of all ages and one darn cute puppy.
The event was put together by a new group calling itself "Bloomington Muslims and Jews for Peace and Justice". That group includes people from The Islamic Center of Bloomington and the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace.
There were prayers. Carrie Newcomer sang (she is affilated with the Bloomington Friends Meeting) - with the crowd singing the chorus. She looked like she was about to cry - it did all seem so sad and beautiful at the same time.
I was thinking how nice it is to live somewhere where people do not go to war over land, or water (though Bloominton was not happy that a company from Indianapolis wanted to pipe Lake Monroe to Indy), or whatever.
Cynical me. The people asked God to stop the violence. It seems to me that is mostly up to Olmert. Hezbolla has been saying that they would honor a ceasefire. The new UN "deal" involves "a demilitarisation of the south, between the border and the Litani River - an area about 20 miles deep into Lebanon". So it's basically giving Israel access to the Litani. (See my post yesterday,
"Water Issues in the Middle East" for more on that).
If things go as usual - the US press will try to make out like America and Israel are for an agreement - while Hezbolla and/or Lebanon are not. As if the Lebanese are being unreasonable because they don't want to give away their land and water. It's not much of a peace agreement. Though I don't think that Bolton (our "Peace" ambassador) ever wanted peace anyway - saying things like "I don't think that the use of force by Israel is excessive". (July 20th)
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That sounds like a very nice event. It is too bad that people don't do things like that everywhere.
Last winter after a big snow someone stamped out a huge peace sign (~50 yards in diameter) on the side of a hill. I wish I had taken a picture of that.
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